To improve economic vitality and promote widespread collaborative cooperation through establishing a fair market economy, it is essential to create a foundation for fair transactions between large enterprises and small and medium sized enterprises and between prime contractors and subcontractors, which is also a focal goal of the Fair Trade Commission.
In response, there have been continued systematic and policy efforts for greater fairness in subcontracting, but they have been insufficient for fair subcontracting to take root. According to ‘Record of Fair Trade Related Corrections by Conduct,’ the total number of corrections increased from 2,435 cases in 2014 to 3,656 cases in 2018, which was an increase of 50%. Of the total number of corrections, the number of corrections due to ‘violation of the Subcontracting Act’ increased from 911 cases in 2014 to 1,814 cases in 2018, which was an increase of no less than 99%.
Therefore, this proposal aims to enable a just and fair subcontracting culture to take root by prescribing: that where an unfair special subcontracting agreement substantially infringes upon a subcontractor’s profit, the relevant parts of such an agreement shall be invalid; that measures such as seizure, assignment or exemption, etc., of an amount corresponding to 1/2 of a subcontract consideration shall be prohibited; and that where cost has increased as a result of a change in delivery date, etc., the subcontract consideration shall be increased (Articles 3-4, 14-2 and 16).

Determine a prohibited amount regarding seizure of subcontract consideration, etc. (Article 14-2), prescribe that where an unfair special subcontracting agreement infringes upon a subcontractor, the relevant parts of such an agreement shall be invalid (Article 3-4), add to the list of subjects for whom subcontract consideration shall be decreased (Article 16 (1) 1)